Haptics is a field of research which enables information to be transferred to a user based on sense of touch or tactile sensation. The transfer of information has been mostly performed through the sense of sight (or the visible sensation) and the sense of hearing (or auditory sensation). But the researches on the haptics are in rapid progress due to an increase in the needs of a user for another sensory information along with the development of a computer interface of a virtual environment
The application range of a typical haptic device is abruptly extended to cellular phones and the like beyond simulators. Meanwhile, a motor vehicle is additionally equipped with a variety of accessories enabling a comfortable driving environment for a driver or occupants in the motor vehicle. Such accessories provide convenience in driving to the driver or occupants, and simultaneously involve a serious problem in that the driver's driving concentration is reduced to obstruct the safety driving. For this reason, various switch devices are intensively mounted on a steering wheel of the motor vehicle. However, as the number of convenience equipments mounted at the vehicle is increased, the number of switches mounted on the steering wheel is also increased, resulting in an ironic situation where a driver divert his or her attention onto the steering wheel of the vehicle so as to manipulate the switches. Therefore, there is a need for a switch having a structure which can secure both integration of the switches and safety driving of a vehicle as well as enables rapid manipulation and sensory recognition of whether or not the switches are manipulated.